Dharavi redevelopment project: Decision to float new tender approved

The Maharashtra cabinet on

Thursday gave its nod to a decision to cancel the tender process for the long-pending Dharavi slum redevelopment project, and invite fresh bids.

The decision had been taken by a committee of secretaries in August.

"Its decision to revise the terms and conditions and float tenders afresh was finalized today," an official statement said.

The previous Devendra Fadnavis government had decided on October 16, 2018, to redevelop Mumbai's Dharavi area, considered to be Asia's largest slum.

Dubai-based Seclink Technologies Corporation, backed by the royal family of the UAE, had emerged as highest bidder for the project to redevelop the slum spread over 593 acres after the state housing department floated a Special Purpose Vehicle for the the project in November 2018.

After the committee of secretaries decided to scrap the tender process, Seclink had said it would bid afresh.

The Dharavi Redevelopment Committee, a federation of 52 associations of residents, had opposed the committee's decision, saying it would further delay the project which is pending for 16 years.

Under the proposed redevelopment, 67,000 families living in Dharavi were to get 350 sq ft houses.